Several years ago, our firm was asked to work with a large organization and help them with their internal branding. The client, who remains a good friend of mine to this day is now retired. He is a creative genius and one of those people who come along once in a lifetime.

Bill had the vision 20 years ago to draw the correlation between the brand promise, the internal execution of that brand promise for a company with over 4,000 employees and the Constitution of the United States. I’m sure you’re thinking that this is an odd correlation, but it is pure genius in my mind.

He asked us to go into the National Constitution Center and think about the Constitution as the brand promise for America. And then, look at the behavior of Americans as it relates to the Constitution, the written manuscript which drives and embodies law in our country.

After going through a tour of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, we came out of there with a new perspective on what a brand and the brand promise and the delivery of that brand promise means.

The Constitution is much more than a guideline for what we believe in as citizens of the United States of America. It is the touchstone for how we behave, how we act and how we treat one another. When you build a North Star statement or a brand positioning statement, you are saying that this is in fact how we behave and how we act in this organization.

We all make conscious and subconscious decisions daily as to how we act as citizens of the United States, likewise, when we have guidance and direction for the company or organization that we are working for, we do the same thing. We make a conscious and subconscious effort daily to become more like the brand promise the company has developed for all stakeholders.
What we have found in our research over the last 20 years is that most organizations do not possess a corporate Constitution, a purpose or North Star statement. Most organizations are unclear on how to accomplish such a task and fear the hard work involved.